Have you been contacted by one of those brands on Instagram, asking you to collab? It probably looks a little something like this: someone comments on your photo, “hey lovely! dm us to collab,” you get your hopes up, check their account, meh looks kind of promising, follow their instructions to DM them, and then boom: you’re hit with a discount code.

Why does everyone want so many followers? When did becoming “famous” on social media become all the hype? Social validation is real and while follower count certainly correlates with success, it is not what small business owners should be focusing on. What if; instead, you could turn those followers into real leads for your business?